Gifts
by blueandblack
Summary: Twenty-Three 100 word drabbles all based on the prompt 'Gifts'. Includes various ships and characters.


Birthday I, Edward/Bella

--

"When's Edward's birthday?"

Alice looked up from the pages of Vogue with a little smirk. "Which one?"

Bella smiled, shook her head. "Right, of course. Um, well, which one does he celebrate?"

Alice laughed as though that question were a brilliant joke. "Neither." She cocked her head to one side, thought for a moment. "But if he had a secret fondness for one it would be his human date of birth. June twentieth."

Bella's eyes widened. "But that's next week! I wanted to do something special... get him a gift… but there's no time! Alice you have to help me."

--

Birthday II, Edward/Bella

--

Alice bit her lip. "I want to help. In fact I feel almost physically compelled to take over this project and it goes against all my instincts to say this, but…" She had to close her eyes to get it out. "No. I will not help you choose a gift for my brother."

Bella blinked. "What? Why not? Who _are_ you?"

Alice's smile was tender. "This was _your_ idea. Edward would want whatever came from _your_ heart."

Bella nodded slowly because that was sweet and it made sense. Then she sighed heavily, thought _Come on heart, help me out here. _

--

Birthday III, Edward/Bella

--

Bella never thought she'd see the day that she ditched school to go _shopping._ And yet, here it was.

The truck coughed and spluttered its way to Port Angeles while she searched her mind frantically for ideas.

She ran out of cash by three, told herself that meant she couldn't have done too badly.

But as her truck coughed and spluttered its way back to Forks she was thinking _Oh please, how is my puny little print going to look in the Cullen house alongside what I suspect are freaking originals? And a book? Seriously? He's probably read them all. _

--

Birthday IV, Edward/Bella

--

Edward's hands trembled as he pulled at the silver string.

His birthday was something long-forgotten, and when Bella had smiled shyly, thrust the packages into his hands, he had been shocked and deeply touched.

Bella watched him anxiously, qualifying her gifts as he opened them – _It's not a real Manet, obviously_ and _You've probably read it, but I kept the receipt._

"Beauty and beautiful words…" Edward smiled, his voice almost wistful. "You know me well."

"They're sort of lame though," Bella mumbled, suddenly fighting tears.

Edward shook his head, tipped her chin up so she met his gaze. "They're perfect."

--

Birthday V, Edward/Bella

--

Bella sighed, willing the stupid tears away. "I wanted to get you something… fancier. Something no one ever thought of, so you'd know - "

"Bella Swan…" He leaned in close, pressed his cool palm to her collarbone, whispered "Do I have your heart?"

When his hand slid to the left, it started to thump madly as if on cue. "Yes," she breathed. "Of course. Always."

Edward smiled, his lashes dipped low when he leaned in, brushed his lips against hers.

"Well that," he said softly, "is the most unique and the most extravagant gift any man could hope for."

--

Experimentation, Jacob/Bella

--

"Jacob, I'm just going to say it. You have a gift."

He chuckled and there was an undeniable note of glee in it.

"Seriously," Bella said jaggedly, still a little breathless, "If I'd known you could do that, my decision might have been a little easier."

Jacob nuzzled her neck with a lazy grin. "Well, that's why I said you should experiment, remember?"

"I remember. You said I should experiment with kissing you. You never said anything about doing _this._"

He ran a hand down slowly over her thigh, whispered "Oh you have _no idea_ how much I wanted to."

--

Christmas Wish, Jacob/Bella

--

Jacob only wants one thing for Christmas this year.

Well, since Christmas is still a few months off, he really wouldn't object to an unseasonal gift, but unfortunately, he thinks he'll probably need the mistletoe for this one.

He wants Bella Swan to let him kiss her. More than anything.

It's worse than the five years in a row – aged six to eleven - he wrote to Santa begging for the Aston Martin V8 that never came.

This is _agony_, literally the worst and the most delicious pain he has ever felt.

Asleep, awake, he dreams her lips on his.

--

Birthday Wish, Jacob/Bella

--

Bella only wants one thing for her birthday this year.

(The irony is that it's the first time since she was a little kid that she's wanted anything at all.)

Bella wants to fall out of love with Jacob Black. She'd take that gift from God, the devil, a confused Santa, anyone who was offering.

She receives a lot of pretty packages, nothing in the way of an anti-love spell.

In fact, things get worse on September thirteenth.

Jacob shows up with irises and a smile that makes her ache, hot, sweet, pleading kisses she can't quite say no to.

--

Different, Jasper/Alice

--

They'd been in love and inseparable for three weeks when Jasper said he some "business to attend to". Alice wasn't impressed.

She _was_ impressed when he came back with a gift.

"I went to New York, persuaded the people at Guerlain to let me make my own."

Jasper dabbed the perfume under her ear, right where her pulse would have thrummed.

Alice's eyes slipped closed.

"We all smell the same. You should smell different. Fresh peaches, cherry blossom, a twist of lime and lily…" He pressed his cheek to hers, breathed in, then out with a shaken sigh. "That's you."

--

An Excuse, Alice, Rosalie

--

Alice marched into Rosalie's room, thrust a large box into her arms. "Here!"

Rosalie blinked, lifted the lid. "For me?"

Alice nodded with a shrug and a resigned smile. "I wanted it so desperately, but it wouldn't work. It needs boobs. And I _suppose_ it's more your color. Anyway I needed an excuse to buy it and I thought of you. Now put it on!"

Rose pulled the fragile dress out of the tissue paper, gaped at the sunblush pink silk velvet, the gilded dévoré patches at the waist…

"Alice, it's _beautiful._ Thank you."

Alice sighed wistfully. "Balenciaga. 40 off."

--

Sadness, Sam/Emily/Leah

--

"Baby, are you nearly ready? Jared said a half-hour before the ceremony. He'll maul me if we're late." Sam smirked, straightened his tie. "Or, you know, he'll _try._"

Emily groaned. "I have no shoes. Nothing goes with this dress. Ugh. Why don't I have red shoes?"

Sam frowned. "You do, don't you? Red strappy ones, with high heels." He grinned at her. "Those are actually really hot."

"I can't wear those." Emily said softly. "They were a gift."

Sam laughed. "So? That doesn't exactly mean… "

Emily caught his eye, silenced him with sadness. "They were a gift from Leah."

--

Too Many Gifts, Bella, Nessie

--

Too many gifts. That's what went wrong with Renesmee.

There were the ones nature had blessed her with – that deceptively sweet smile, the bright curls that scattered with her infectious laughter...

Then there were the ones the supernatural had bestowed upon her – Jacob's unswerving devotion to her every whim, that way she had of _showing_ you her point of view, painting inside you till you caved…

Not to mention the ones that were wrapped in tissue paper and cellophane, there had been thousands of those.

Bella sighed heavily. She understood it now. There had been too many gifts.

--

Soothed I, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper

--

Finding Emmett didn't fix Rosalie.

It did help, being in love, completely wrapped up in someone else literally and figuratively. It distracted her from her grief and rage and bitterness for something like a decade.

But when the giddy high dipped into a sweet, forever routine, Rosalie found herself snapping and snarling again, playing mind-games with Edward, batting her eyelashes at Carlisle, then clinging to Esme with dry sobs because she was a mess again, a mess of sick, bruised lust and snapping limbs…

Then _they_ came with their gifts.

Alice's piled up in her arms, Jasper's in his heart.

--

Soothed II, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper

--

Alice was sugar and limes and when she was around, Rosalie could still remember how those tasted.

She coaxed Rose into shopping, and not just ordinary shopping. Trips to Paris with lists that read _silks, stilettos, perfume and powder._

When Rosalie gazed mournfully at herself in some boutique mirror, whispered how she used to have a smattering of freckles when she took too much sun, Alice rolled her eyes, threw her another dress.

"Well, you're only _perfect_ now, you'll just have to make do with what you've got."

Rose laughed, held her wrist to her nose and breathed in _Shalimar. _

--

Soothed III, Rosalie, Alice, Jasper

--

Jasper and Rosalie would sit in the garden and talk, share their horrors.

His were bigger than hers, perhaps, grander, but then hers had been crammed into such a small space that the explosion… it had been a war in itself, and there were such scars…

One afternoon all Jasper did was listen, for _hours_, and Rose's words were an agony she could taste. It should have been awful, wrecking, but it seemed like the words dissolved into nothing as they left her mouth, and the more she said, the more she was _soothed._

She smiled at Jasper, to herself.

--

Fantasies, Bella, Charlie, Jacob

--

Bella doesn't think about Charlie after she is turned. She is too consumed with the horror of bloodlust, then later with the thrill of power and beauty she never dreamed was possible.

Charlie barely crosses her mind for a decade.

Then one Christmas it hits her like a tidal wave. My dad. _My dad._

She surrenders to fantasies, showing up with gifts and pudding and "Dad, there was no accident, it was all a mistake, I'm alive!"

Her mind wanders cruelly, stretching the scene.

"And I'm pregnant! You're going to be a grandad!"

That makes Bella shake. That's Jacob too.

--

It's A Boy! I, Embry/Leah

--

"Embry, what the fuck is this?"

Leah stared stonily into the box at what she had caught disbelieving glimpses of through the holes in the lid.

Embry grinned widely, exclaimed "It's a boy!"

Leah looked up at him, unimpressed. "It's a dog."

Embry nodded. Her dagger-stare only amused him more. "It's a _boy dog._ We're both right!"

He reached in and retrieved the tiny Labrador puppy, held him up for inspection. "I think we should name him Boris."

Leah just glared and he held up a hand. "You're right baby, that's your call. He is _your_ birthday gift after all."

--

It's A Boy! II, Embry/Leah

--

Leah grumbled over her living, breathing, pooping, peeing, hole-digging, shoe-chewing, sometimes-throwing-up, always-licking-her-face gift for a week. Every time she told Embry she hoped he'd kept the receipt he laughed.

"This is ridiculous," she said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the sheets of newspaper that lined the living room floor. "You need to fix that gate so he can live outside. Dogs do not belong in the house. Period."

"Huh?" Embry asked, doing his best to look genuinely perplexed. "But _we_ live in the house…"

Leah punched him in the arm, hard. He just laughed again.

--

It's A Boy! III, Embry/Leah

--

After a few weeks Boris (for that was indeed his name) was mostly toilet-trained, and Leah was mostly used to him being around. She still didn't like him much though, and of course that meant he had to be _obsessed_ with her.

One morning she nearly tripped over him coming out of the bathroom. "_Jesus_ Boris!" she scowled down at him. "Must you follow me around everywhere like a lovesick… puppy…"

Boris just squeaked, jumped up at her, fell down again floppily.

Leah rolled her eyes, picked him up. "Fine. One cuddle. But that's your quota blown for the day."

--

It's A Boy! IV, Embry/Leah

--

"Oh _Christ! Jesus fucking Christ!_"

Leah was running down the street, probably a little too fast for the suburbs.

Quil had brought Claire around to see the puppy and she'd gone out to play and left the door open _even though they fucking told her the fucking gate was still fucked up _fuck!

Now Claire was bawling her eyes out in Quil's arms and Leah was crying too, running and crying, trying to keep calm, focus on the scent.

It took her nearly three hours to find the sneaky little fucker.

He was safe and sound, she was a wreck.

--

It's A Boy! V, Embry/Leah

--

Leah rested her head against Embry's chest and spoke wearily.

"Embry Call… Did you use the ancient and beautiful tradition of gift-giving to mark the passing of time to trick me into, like, therapy?"

Embry smiled, pressed his lips gently to the top of her head. "Maybe."

"Well it didn't work. I still hate animals."

"All animals?" Embry asked softly.

"Yes. All animals." Leah snapped back, as sharp as she could manage.

Embry petted the sleeping puppy in Leah's lap. "All animals except Boris?"

Leah sighed and Boris shifted, snuggled closer to her stomach. "Yeah, okay. All animals except Boris."

--

Perfect, Quil/Claire

--

When Claire is ten, it's the first year she buys Quil's birthday gift all by herself.

She rations her allowance for weeks, spends an hour browsing at the Saturday markets while her mother runs errands.

Claire bites her lip, wraps the chosen item with trembling fingers even though she thinks it's perfect, she's _so sure it's so perfect!_

Two silver chains, two halves of a heart spelling out 'best friends'.

One each.

Quil grins, confirms her suspicions. "Wow! Perfect!"

When Embry notices him wearing it he laughs so hard he nearly collapses. Quil rolls his eyes, flips him the bird.

--

A Gift From The Gods, Jacob/Bella

--

_Jacob was a gift from the gods._

It had been nothing when she'd thought it, flippant nonsense that went with _Motorcycles, danger, Edward Edward Edward._

Now Bella found herself wondering whether it had been so very true or so very false.

Maybe the gods had sent him.

After all Jacob had saved her then, he was trying to save her again now...

Trying and failing. He hadn't changed her mind, only her heart. Their love hadn't altered her path, only the load she would carry.

Guilt, regret, _yearning._

Jacob wasn't a gift.

_(Because Bella wouldn't take him.)_

Jacob was punishment.


End file.
